[Pythonmac-SIG] Pythonw and VPython and Fink

[Dethe Elza]

> Framework builds of Python can use X11 just fine. I'm not sure  
> that's the holdup.

The holdup is that it hasn't really been ported to OS X, they've just  
tweaked the Linux/Gnome version enough that you can build it on OS X,  
as long as you build GTK and friends first, and use X11, and get  
exactly the right version of Boost.Python, etc.

OS X has a perfectly good OpenGL layer, which they've chosen to  
ignore.  I don't think porting the actual code would be that big a  
deal, and I'd be willing to do it, but I end up struggling with their  
autoconf hacks--my configuration-fu is not up to it, and I'm not  
really interested in learning autoconf.  I asked the VPython folks  
why they don't use distutils and they told me it was because a)  
distutils doesn't properly support C++, b) windows and macs don't  
necessarily have a compiler installed, and c) distutils requires that  
extensions be built with the exact compiler that built Python.  None  
of these are actually true (I checked on the distutils list), but  
there you go.

I like VPython and wish I could use it under Aqua.  Sooner or later  
I'll take another stab at porting it or rewriting it in PyOpenGL.

--Dethe

"the city carries such a cargo of pathos and longing
  that daily life there vaccinates us against revelation"
  -- Pain Not Bread, The Rise and Fall of Human Breath